In a Mirror, Darkly
Players DM * DM BQ Players * Cinnabar d'Phiarlan, elf bard * Errat/Jorunn Lonefall, human rogue/ranger * Kiln ir'Kavay, changeling "artificer" (cleric) * Stefan ir'Lain, human wizard. Additional NPCs * Future!Atalie * Taenaveth * Myra * Aida(ktavi) Introduction Our brave adventurers find themselves on the lightning rail headed north out of Sharn, the City of Towers. Their destination? A remote site in the Howling Peaks where a lost party of adventurers from the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild were supposed to have checked in almost two weeks ago. Giff Rapelje, the Foundations' PR director, has asked you to rescue these junior adventurers to help combat the recent string of bad press that the Foundation has received. Your tickets tell you that you'll be disembarking in Wroat, where you'll meet with Giff himself, the aged gnome having made the trip down from Fairhaven, and find transportation. Summary Wayfinders are sent to rescue Clifftop Adventurers who got in over their heads. Classic CAG On the way, they encounter a strange town called Vawsville that is named after a mysterious folk hero that happens to resemble past deeds of Errat. They think that he saved the village by assassinating some guy and turning the nobles on each other. The nobles wore themselves out, and the townspeople cleared up the rest. Now everyone is happy. Oh an there’s a statue of the mysterious figure in the middle of town. The Wayfinders head out to look for CAGers, and a innocuous Bird talks to Cinnabar and charms the entire party, every single one failing their save. They go into a barrow and come out the other side, 30 years in the future. Oops. They send Aida and Leo first thing, and get conflicting and confusing messages. Resolved to continue investigating, they return to Vawsville and find that it has become Darsville of the new Dhakaani empire. They find out that Breland is now a democracy that closely affiliated with Riedra. They acquire horses and head that direction. Once they near Breland, they get approached by soldiers who are suspicious that they are riding on Dar horses. They allow themselves to be arrested, and they are interrogated by Dark Lanterns, who quickly lose their patience and start trying to kill the Wayfinders. The Wayfinders fight back, along with the help of a sleeper agent name who is one of Ketaida’s kids? They Wayfinders win the fight, and then they escape the city and make their way to Sharn, where they have learned the CAGers are being held prisoner. Once in Sharn, they visit some (now) old allies. Grandma-Atalie, Tellarm(Su), and Hendra, who are now members of the “resistance.” Finally they meet up with Aida, and allow her to read their minds. This is not good because Aida is actually Aidaktavi, aka the BBEG. Aida encourages them to attend a Gala being held soon and assassinate Aktavi’s host. If they manage it, then the CAGers will be moved, and the Wayfinders will be able to ambush the guards and rescue them. Once at the Gala, Kiln turns into Dain and flirts with Aktavi’s hosts, and then they are assassinated by the Wayfinders, dramatically revealing that the hosts are changelings who happened to be grown-up children of another Wayfinder, Nat. While this is happening, the Wayfinders receive sendings from all the allies they visited, because they are now compromised and under assault from the Dark Lanterns. Oops. Finally, Aidaktavi reveals herself and coerces the Wayfinders into attacking her and the Prime Minister, completing the masterstroke of her plan to unite the people against any who resist Riedran influence. The Wayfinders manage to kill Aidaktavi, and in doing so release Aida from being a meatpuppet for spooky dream demons. The Fey that put them in this story is finally satisfied, and allows them to return home with a few souvenirs and the Clifftop Adventurers. All the Wayfinders now have PTSD but are very relieved to be home. The End Conclusion And then this group of Wayfinders parted their separate ways, to comfort and confront their friends and loved ones. The Librarian sets down his quill and recapped the bottle of emerald ink. With a satisfied smile on his face, he waves his hand and the book lifts off and gently inserts itself into a bookshelf with dozens of other books. The spines of the books on that bookshelf all carry the Wayfinder Foundation seal, and as he gets up from his writing desk, the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of bookshelves, each filled to the brim with Stories of mortals, slowly rotate around him as the Wayfinder bookshelf slides back and disappears into the swarm of shelves. With a sharp whistle, a swarm of glowing, translucent green birds swoop down from above and hover near his feet, forming an invisible platform onto which he steps and lifts up and away. He murmurs to himself as he looks over his vast kingdom of books, the slowly rotating shelves around his desk stretching farther than the eye can see. "I wonder what story they will write next..." Category:Expedition